Section 3: Debts around the World

How does the United States debt compare to that of other countries? Below is a table with public debt data from selected countries around the world. Note that the public debt is shown. This is different from the overall debt. The public debt only includes debt to the public (households and businesses) and excludes intergovernmental debt. If governmental debt were included, the numbers for most countries would increase by approximately one-third.

The table shows that in 2016 (latest year reported by many countries) the public debt as a percentage of nominal GDP in the United States is close to the average public debt of other industrialized countries. China, South Korea, Russia, and Algeria have lower debts as a percentage of their economy (nominal GDP). Greece, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Egypt, France, and Canada all have higher-percentage debts. Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have percentage debts that are close to that of the United States. In a complete list of 150 countries, the United States ranks as the 43rd highest public debt holder (42 countries have more public debt and 107 have less public debt as a percentage of their nominal GDP). In the table below you can see that Japan had the highest public debt percentage with 235%. Greece and Italy take the silver and bronze respectively with 182% and 133%.

Country

Fiscal Year 2005 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP *
(rounded to the nearest whole number)

Fiscal Year 2007 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP *
(rounded to the nearest whole number)

Fiscal Year 2008 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP * (rounded to the nearest whole number)

Fiscal Year 2011 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP * (rounded to the nearest whole number)

Fiscal Year 2012 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP * (rounded to the nearest whole number)

Fiscal Year 2014 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP * (rounded to the nearest whole number)**

Fiscal Year 2016 Public Debt as a Percentage of nominal GDP * (rounded to the nearest whole number)**

United States

36

37

70

66

70

71

79

Algeria

30

10

14

8

8

8

17

Brazil

52

44

41

54

59

59

72

Canada

70

64

62

84

85

93

99

China

24

19

16

39

32

22

20

Egypt

105

105

85

84

88

94

93

France

66

67

67

86

90

96

97

Germany

67

65

63

80

81

75

69

Greece

84

83

92

170

157

175

182

Hong Kong

2

10

15

39

38

37

38

India

54

59

78

51

52

51

52

Iran

29

23

25

14

18

11

12

Israel

100

82

76

69

67

67

62

Italy

109

106

104

121

127

134

133

Japan

158

194

170

211

219

228

235

Korea (South)

20

33

33

36

35

37

46

Mexico

17

23

20

35

36

41

50

Netherlands

53

48

43

65

71

69

57

Pakistan

54

54

50

49

52

64

59

Russia

13

7

7

8

8

13

14

Saudi Arabia

44

23

14

11

12

2

31

Singapore

103

101

114

106

111

107

111

South Africa

36

28

30

40

42

47

43

Sweden

50

42

37

39

38

40

41

Taiwan

34

31

31

35

36

37

33

Turkey

68

58

37

40

38

37

33

United Kingdom

41

43

47

84

89

87

92

Venezuela

34

27

17

25

27

51

37

* Public debt includes only debt held by the public, the Federal Reserve and foreign, state and local governments. Any debt that is held by federal government entities (Social Security and Medicare trust funds) is excluded. If all forms of debt were included, the percentage for most countries would increase by approximately one-third.
** Some 2016 data are estimates as not all countries have released final statistics for 2016 or beyond.
Source: CIA World Fact Book. For a direct link, please visithttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2186.html